John Stevenson, New York (acquired directly from the artist)
Gift to the present owner from the above in 1981

Corpus Christi, Art Museum of South Texas, Johns, Stella, Warhol: Works in Series, October - November 1972, p. 34, illustrated in color
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The New York School:  Four Decades, Guggenheim Museum Collection and Major Loans, July - August 1982

Rainer Crone, Das Bildnerische Werk Andy Warhols, Berlin, 1976, cat. nos. 573 and 576
David Bourdon, Warhol, New York, 1989, pl. 254, p. 329, illustrated in color
Exh. Cat., Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art (and travelling), Andy Warhol: Portraits of the Seventies and Eighties, 1993, cat. no. 3, illustrated in color
Exh. Cat., New York, Gagosian Gallery, Pop Art: The John and Kimiko Powers Collection, New York, 2001, p. 10, illustrated in color
Neil Printz and Sally King-Nero, eds., The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné: Paintings and Sculptures 1970-1974, Vol. 03, New York, 2010, cat. nos. 2171 and 2174, pp. 103, 107, 109-110, illustrated in color

i. This work is in very good condition overall. The edges of the canvas are taped. There is evidence of light wear and handling along the edges including hairline craquelure at the pull margins. There is a faint stretcher bar impression around the edges. There are scattered light surface abrasions visible in the figure's hair. Under raking light, there are scattered accretions visible in the right of the figure's face, and fluoresce brightly under Ultraviolet light inspection, but do not appear to be the result of restoration. Framed. ii. This work is in good condition overall. The edges of the canvas are taped. The canvas is buckling slightly in the upper left corner. There is evidence of light wear and handling along the edges including hairline craquelure at the pull margins. There is a faint stretcher bar impression around the edges. There are scattered light surface abrasions visible in the figure's hair. There are a few localized areas of hairline craquelure, all of which appear stable. There are 2 hairline cracks that appear to have been consolidated: one is vertical at the upper left edge and the other is curved in the central right side and both areas fluoresce brightly under Ultraviolet light restoration. Under Ultraviolet light inspection, there are a few drip accretions that fluoresce lightly but do not appear to be the result of restoration. Framed.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In 1972, John Powers commissioned Andy Warhol to make twenty-five 40-by-40 inch canvases of his wife, Kimiko, clad in a traditional Japanese kimono with an elegantly styled chignon. Once assembled as a whole, the colossal portrait stood at 200-by-200 inches in total, eclipsing Warhol’s own 80-by-144 inch groundbreaking 1963 commission, Ethel Scull 36 Times. The present works, however, are not merely an attempt to infuse Kimiko’s image with an aura of celebrity, as many of Warhol's society portraits were. Instead, she is conveyed as a woman with grace, elegance and flair but there is a mystery in her eyes that the viewer cannot penetrate. Though we are given the illusion of intimacy, it is merely a lesson in the art of performance, seduction and high society.

The monumental portrait was only exhibited once in its entirety—the Powers’ had already agreed on its division with Warhol—at the inaugural show at the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi. Titled Johns, Stella, Warhol: Works in Series, the exhibition was David Whitney’s first as an independent curator and served to validate the serial nature of Warhol’s oeuvre. By featuring the Kimiko Powers group in Philip Johnson’s awe-inspiring atrium as the centerpiece of the exhibition, Whitney further heralded the significance of both the work aဣnd Warhol’s portraiture as a whole.